Proportion of ever-partnered women and girls aged 15 years and older subjected to physical, sexual or psychological violence by a current or former intimate partner by form of violence and by age in the previous 12 months are sub-targets of SDG 5.2.1 Aggregating individual women’s reported experiences of physical and/or sexual violence from an intimate partner estimates the level of exposure that women in intimate relationships are subjected to in a given country’s population, regionally and globally

The percentage of ever-partnered women in a given population who have ever been subjected to physical and/or sexual violence by a current or former intimate partner since age 15. The percentage of ever-partnered women in a given population who have been subjected to physical and/or sexual violence by a current or former intimate partner in the 12 months (preceding the survey)

Age

Series of questions asked to women, currently or previously in a partnership, inquiring about experience of specific acts of physical and/or sexual violence by their partner. These questions are ideally asked by specially trained interviewers in household surveys dedicated to measurement of violence against women and protecting safety in accordance with WHO recommendations. Alternatively, other population-based surveys with modules on violence against women can be used. Implementation of surveys or survey modules on violence against women need to ensure the safety, privacy and confidentiality of the participant in accordance with WHO recommendations.

Outcome

Lifetime and past 12 months prevalence of intimate partner violence are estimated by age group and WHO region by pooling data from population-based studies in models that control for: case definitions of physical violence, and sexual violence (severe versus not only severe violence)survey sample (whether survey was with ever-partnered women or all women or only currently partnered women), perpetrator on which the question focused (partner/spouse versus spouse only; current or most recent spouse/partner versus any current or previous spouse/partner), and whether study was national or subnational.. A 5-level (studies, countries, regions, super-regions, world) hierarchical Bayesian modelling framework was used to generate the national, regional and global estimates. Estimates were imputed for countries with no eligible survey data to generate regional estimates but national estimates are not published for these countries. Results weighted by the relevant population size and age distribution using the most recent 2019 revision of World Population Prospects.

Results weighted by population size and age distribution. The combined 15-49 and 15 years and older age group estimates for regional and global prevalence of intimate partner violence are based on a more complete dataset than the age-specific estimates. The combined 15-49 age group world estimate for WHO regions and SDG regions are based on the aggregated world estimate using weighting of GBD regions.

Database will be updated annually, and new estimates will be produced every 2 to 3 years.

Annual

Population-based survey data are used rather than clinic-based or other surveillance or service data since only a small number of those subjected to violence seek services and violence is seriously underreported which would result in an underestimation of the population prevalence in these sources. Prevalence is calculated using statistical modeling to account for the differences in survey measurement and data quality. Given the lack of consensus on the definition and standardized measurement of psychological intimate partner violence, the current estimates only include physical and/or sexual violence from a current or former intimate partner. As a majority of the available survey data on intimate partner violence are for women aged 15-49, with sparse data for women aged 15 years and older, the estimates are presented for the 15-49 age group. This is useful for tracking progress, but countries are encouraged to include women aged 50 years and above in all violence against women surveys. Prevalence estimates for women 15 years and older is also available on request.